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I am first and foremost a New Yorker. But I am also a patient who has been living with type 1 diabetes for more than 50 years, and who recently underwent a triple bypass surgery. The heavy burden of managing my health has only been exacerbated by the overwhelming costs of the medications I need to survive. And I am not alone.
The soaring prices of life-saving drugs have forced many people into crushing financial hardship, leading a quarter of Americans to make the impossible decision to ration or skip their medications altogether which can have devastating consequences on health and well-being.
As Congress, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, approaches a mid-January deadline to pass a crucial funding bill, the lives of millions of patients, like me, will be heavily impacted. Within these discussions concerning funding allocation and government resources lies a unique opportunity to confront the overwhelming burden of prescription drug costs through legislative action.
Right now in the Senate there are bills specifically targeting anti-competitive tactics employed by large pharmaceutical corporations to prolong their monopolies, allowing unlimited, unilateral pricing power and hindering the entry of more affordable generics into the market. These proposed measures would crack down on loopholes exploited by Big Pharma and take a critical step toward lower prices and more affordable drugs for all Americans.
Schumer was instrumental in passing the Inflation Reduction Act — which has emerged as a beacon of hope for many New Yorkers and millions of patients like me.
The historic drug pricing reforms the law encompasses, including Medicare negotiation for lower prices on the costliest drugs, establishing a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket expenses, providing free vaccines, and $35 monthly insulin copay limit, will help millions of patients on Medicare. The monthly insulin copay cap in particular, has already meant savings on my expensive Humalog insulin and Medicare negotiations will lead to a lower price for my heart medication, Entresto, by 2026.
But the solution to the issue of high drug prices requires more than the current measures offer. Big Pharma drives these inflated costs by exploiting loopholes in the patent and regulatory systems to maintain their monopolies. This is where Schumer can once again be a leader in taking on Big Pharma on behalf of patients across the country.
In its current state, the United States patent system is designed to incentivize innovation by granting 20 years of patent protection and temporary market exclusivity. However, Big Pharma has manipulated this system by employing anticompetitive maneuvers such as patent thicketing, product hopping, and pay-for-delay, in order to elongate their monopoly pricing power on medications, at the expense of patients, and keep lower-cost generic drugs from coming to the market.
Take my Humalog insulin, for instance, which has been on the market since 1996. Despite the initial expectation of a 20-year exclusivity period, its patent protection extends until 2024, courtesy of secondary patents secured by its manufacturer, Eli Lilly. This practice effectively prolongs the monopoly well beyond what was initially intended.
My other medication, Entresto, is manufactured by Novartis, a drug company that’s gotten away with price gouging every single year. Although key patents for Entresto are set to expire by 2026, Novartis has made agreements with potential competitors to keep them off the market. This strategy not only extends the monopoly, but it also extracts more money from patients and taxpayers, underscoring the urgent need for regulatory reform.
Big drug companies have shamelessly exploited our patent system and manipulated regulatory loopholes, creating a system of unchecked monopoly pricing that prioritizes their profits over the well-being of patients.
Urgent reform is needed, and thankfully, there is a growing bipartisan momentum in Congress to pass a comprehensive package of reforms that will begin to rectify this corrupt power imbalance, restore fairness in our patent system, and bring down drug prices for patients like me. Unsurprisingly, nearly 80% of voters, spanning across party lines, support such reforms.
New Yorkers know that Chuck Schumer will follow through on his promise to patients and continue to push for reforms that lower drug prices — because he has in the past. Now, there’s another opportunity for him to lead his colleagues and build upon the success of the Inflation Reduction Act.
By taking action to curb abuses in our patent system and close regulatory loopholes, the majority leader can pave the way for increased competition in the market, and save taxpayers $2.5 to $3 billion over the next 10 years.
The time for action is now, and I implore Schumer to bring these crucial reforms to the Senate floor, ensuring that the well-being of patients takes precedence over corporate profits.
Parant is a retired pharmaceutical sales representative based in Westbury, L.I.
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Bob Parant
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